How Service-Learning Trips Support Underserved Communities
Deciding to go on a trip abroad to support underserved populations can be life-changing for both yourself and the communities you serve. As you begin this journey, it’s important to…
MEDLIFE Stories
From Service Learning Trip to Academic Credit: The McGill–MEDLIFE Leadership Corps Model
Universities and experiential-learning organizations often approach academic credit from the same direction: First build the course. Then design the field experience. But in 2019, MEDLIFE and Professor Thom Meredith of…
From Panama to Kenya: How McGill Field Education Helped Shape MEDLIFE
Some things can be taught in a lecture. Others have to be encountered. Students can read about inequality. They can study healthcare systems. They can debate international development, sustainability, conservation,…
The Delaware Model: What a Month-Long MEDLIFE Experience Taught Us About Immersive Service Learning
When students plan an international service experience, one assumption comes up again and again: Keep it short. Students are busy. International travel is expensive. Academic calendars are complicated. Surely one…
How UC Berkeley Built a Better Model for Global Health Service Learning
What if the most important part of an international service experience happened before students ever boarded a plane? For years, the traditional model of student service abroad has followed a…
What Nutrition and Food Science Students Can Learn on a SLT
Many undergraduate students today are pursuing careers surrounding public health and dietetics. This is a wonderful pursuit for anyone passionate about nutrition and diet science. Classroom lectures, discussions, and textbooks…
Gain Nursing Experience Managing High Patient Volume Under Pressure
For aspiring nurses and nursing students, transitioning textbook knowledge into fast-paced clinical confidence is one of the biggest hurdles in healthcare education. While traditional hospital rotations offer valuable structure, managing…
Why Blood Pressure Spikes in High-Altitude Informal Settlements
Cardiovascular disease is often framed as an urban lifestyle condition driven by sedentary habits and aging populations. However, in the high-altitude hillside communities surrounding cities like Lima, Peru, hypertension is…
Why Unpaved Topography Is a Healthcare Barrier in South America
When we start to analyze public health disparities, the conversation typically centers on drug costs, hospital bed shortages, or medical staffing. However, physical terrain plays an equally decisive role in…
Why Cultural Humility Is Replacing Cultural Competence
In clinical training for healthcare related fields, learning how to interact with diverse populations has traditionally focused on mastering cultural norms, customs, and health beliefs. For years, health programs trained…
The Link Between Climate Change and Disease in Informal Settlements
Climate change is rapidly reshaping global health, with rising temperatures and erratic weather patterns expanding the reach of dangerous pathogens. While these environmental shifts are affecting populations across the globe,…
How to Find Ethical Global Healthcare Experiences
For pre-health students, aspiring nurses, and future physicians, gaining hands-on exposure to medicine is a big milestone that can help grow clinical confidence, cultural humility, and a broader understanding of…